Appraiser says homes below &100k most vulnerable to depreciation

Robert Mirrielees can't make sense of the latest appraised value of his home. Mirrielees' home north of the Brownsville Country Club depreciated nearly 11 percent compared to last year's appraised value.

It would make sense if his neighbors' homes similarly depreciated, Mirrielees thought, but while some had depreciated others had actually appreciated.

"It's like one appraiser went to my house with a calculator and another appraiser went next door using a different calculator," Mirrielees said. "It just doesn't seem like there's any rhyme or reason."

Mirrielees' frustration is echoed by thousands of homeowners every year upon receiving the appraised value of their home from the appraisal district.

Last week the Cameron Appraisal District mailed out over 200,000 notices to homeowners.

A survey of more than a dozen homes on Mirrielees' block found that about 40 percent lost appraised value, 20 percent gained appraised value and the remaining 40 percent saw no change at all, according to data from the Cameron Appraisal district.

Mirrielees had hoped to find a pattern to the appraisals, but when none emerged he felt even more confused.

"I thought maybe the lower appraisal had something to do with my house being the smallest on the block, but that really wasn't the case at all," he said.

Unfortunately for homeowners looking for an easy explanation, like Mirrielees, the reasons for why two seemingly similar homes can have such disparate appraisal values are numerous, said Frutoso Gomez, chief appraiser for the appraisal district.

Appraisers have a number of tools to assess home value, chief among them sales of neighboring homes, improvements and damages, and foreclosures.

"When you start hearing people say, ‘Why is his house more or less expensive than mine?' I really don't know what to tell them until I've had a chance to look at the property," Gomez said. "It all depends on the area and how it's doing based on market conditions."

In general, it has been a rough year for Brownsville homeowners, Gomez said.

Last year, Cameron County added $1 billion in appraised home values, up 6 percent compared to 2007. This year the county gained only $339 million in appraised value or less than 2 percent compared to 2008.

Gomez said homes with appraised values under $100,000 saw the biggest depreciation, often because the homes were located in neighborhoods with a high number of foreclosed homes.

Assessing value is an inexact process, Gomez admitted.

Clouding the picture further is that Texas is a nondisclosure state, which means all the data used by appraisers on homes sales is based entirely on appraisal district surveys sent to the buyer and seller.

This year stands in contrast to the last year when homeowners were more frustrated about dramatic appreciation and the following property tax increases, including Mirrielees, who saw a second home gain 30 percent of its appraised value.

Of course, dissatisfied homeowners have the option of challenging the appraisal district's assessment.

"Everyone has until June 8 to protest their appraisal," Gomez said. "And every year there are people who protest and are successful."

Anelsen@brownsvilleherald.com